All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

Brilliant ad.

 

Ugh, I get that it isn't as exotic and globe-trotting as F1 but it is so much more competitive, think they mentioned on Sunday how many straight seasons had gone to the last race to crown a champion. F1 had its champion before the first green flag of the season fell.

 

I would've thought even a casual sports fan would know who Roger Penske is... then I realized there aren't sports desks anymore and pages are slammed together in some sweatshop-like "design center" hundreds of miles away.

 

@BTExpress' dacha-office is no sweatshop! It smells as pleasant as a Smoky Mountain rain!

 

Unless the dog sneaks a pee in the corner.

 

I've seen six laps at Portimao and think the FIA should put it on the schedule permanently and immediately. Haven't seen a track with elevation changes this dramatic this side of Laguna Seca.

 

An updated 2020 International Race of Champions ... identical Tesla roadsters at Circuit of the Americas, Barber, Bristol and Talladega.

F1: Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch.
ICS: Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden.
IMSA: Ricky Taylor, Ryan Briscoe, Castroneves or Montoya.

 

Kinda fun watching the sleds slide around in Istanbul. Racing Point 1-2 through eight laps - Lance Strome was on the pole - Lewis Hamilton is merely sixth and Valteri Bottas spun in the first corner and stands 19th.

It's not raining cats and dogs, but track is slick, making the teams decide between rain tires and intermediates. Top six are on wets ... some are already trying to gamble on switch to intermediates and hope that racing groove has had enough water pumped off of it to make it pay off.

 

That victory and drive not only locked up the seventh title for Hamilton, but also proved that it's not all Mercedes, locking out the front row and blowing the field away - at least not every time. Had to hold steady in the rain, changed over to intermediates early and held on as others either had to pit because their intermediates were wearing out or spun and ended up stopping anyway.

Impressive. Fun race because it was different and didn't follow the standard, uh, formula. And if his immediate postrace reaction is any indication, this seventh world title - equaling Schumacher's mark - means more to him that the all-time Grand Prix win total he eclipsed a few weeks ago.